Healing System

"I'd rather shoot myself than make a deal with you," Michael scoffed, as he prepared to kill the demon.

But of course, before he could, the demon reappeared in front of Michael, its smile still as wide as ever.

"Come on, you should hear me out at least. I'm not exactly the worst demon to have a deal with, I promise."

"Promises from demons don't mean much," Michael remarked. "If you truly want to make a deal, give me your core as collateral."

"Pfft..." The demon held back a laugh before narrowing its eyes. "You must be fucking crazy to think I'd give away my life in exchange for some measly deal."

"Isn't that what you were going to ask me to do, though? Don't you think you have a bit of a double standards issue?"

Despite Michael lecturing the demon as though he were its father, he didn't care much.

After all, this demon was here, and then there was a whole flock of demons scattered around the city.

Best case scenario, he kills the demon and manages to save a few hostages.

His mana was not unlimited; therefore, with every little bit he used, it contributed to the loss of his strength.

Even the swords of light earlier, which had crashed down from the sky, surprisingly took 5% of his total mana—or a tad bit more, he wasn't sure.

Nonetheless, there were a lot of things he would have to deal with, so he was merely buying time for the remaining demons to gather.

After all, if he could kill them all while they were gathered, that would not only save him so much time, he would also be able to free more hostages.

Though... There aren't that many hostages left, Michael thought as he glanced around.

Using his mana, he could feel roughly 1,400 or so hostages, and if he were to attack now, at least 1,000 would be killed.

"What an annoying situation," he said out loud with a sigh, before turning to the demon. "Tell me your deal. I'm a bit curious now after you talked so highly of it."

"Oh, I'm glad you've woken up now," the demon remarked with a wide smile. "It's simple, really. I'll give you demonic mana. In exchange, all you need to do is endure it."

"How is that beneficial to me, exactly?" Michael asked with a tilt of his head.

[You could refine your body much faster—even your mana core. Think of it as an alternate energy source which you can harvest by losing a bit of efficiency,] the system explained.

Seems overly complex for no reason, but I understand, Michael replied with a nod.

All he had to do then was to simply accept it, right?

Wrong.

"I need some better terms, or something actually viable," Michael shot back. "You're going to infuse your mana and try to turn me into a demon. It wouldn't be much of a situation where I can get stronger, now would it?"

"I'd recommend you make up your mind," the demon stated with a frown. "I'm Tier 7 by your standards, and you're three tiers below me. I can very easily kill you, birdie."

Should I just kill it now? Michael grumbled, seemingly growing pissed off from this demon.

Nonetheless, he reeled his anger back as he proceeded to simply stretch out his arm.

It seemed like a gesture to the demon, when in reality, Michael merely sent a few swords down on the approaching demons, making sure the ones in the back didn't stray too much.

But now, the situation became much trickier—to the point where he was debating whether saving these hostages was really worth the trouble.

However, if he truly didn't save them, then he would likely be blamed for their deaths.

I should've just gone with the rest of them, Michael grumbled as he turned to the skies.

There were a couple more demons gathering from all over, and it was a bit annoying they had wings.

Of course, nothing he could do about that.

"Here's a counteroffer. If you can hold back my own mana for a minute, then I'll accept your deal," Michael offered.

It was much fairer, as his mana didn't have the inherent property to alter someone's emotions.

That was why the demon visibly grinned.

"I'd like a contract. If I endure, you have to do as I say."

Contract? Hmm... I can definitely delay it with this, Michael thought with a smile.

"Show me your terms. I'll read them over," Michael said with a whistle, and the demon, who seemingly didn't understand what was going on, began drafting up the contract.

In the meanwhile, Michael began thinking of the king of bullshit he wanted to spout.

After all, the number of demons in the distance numbered a few hundred, and those down in the city, several thousand.

One fell swoop would decimate a good portion of their army, so naturally, he waited.

Soon, the demon brought the contract forward, and Michael swiftly read over it.

However, a frown appeared immediately.

"This says I have to endure for twice as long as you do."

"Whoops, I accidentally added some numbers. My apologies," the demon remarked sheepishly, acting stupid.

Nonetheless, Michael returned the contract, and the demon began revising it.

Unsurprisingly, the next few counteroffers had all sorts of different loopholes.

It was almost like the demon's main goal was to piss Michael off until he had no choice but to accept.

And after around five minutes of doing so, he finally glanced at the contract with his brows tilted upward.

It seemed spotless.

An actual contract.

But of course...

"Hmmm... What if we add another clause to it?" Michael asked, watching as the demon's expression crumpled.

"You've got to be kidding me, you fucking stupid bird," the demon exclaimed, grabbing the contract clean out of Michael's hands. "There's no way you have a problem with this. It's perfect, and I'm even going into a negative by performing this deal."

"I want to ensure the best possible deal for both of us, I guess," Michael said with a shrug.

These contracts seemed similar to the ones in the eldritch world—just much, much weaker.

They were so weak, in fact, that he could probably break them without much thought.

If anything, they could be used as great toilet paper in the meantime.

"Look, add in a clause where if you go over the extra time limit, you and I can insert stronger mana in the case the individual accepts," Michael offered with a smile.

"You're kidding..." The demon's veins practically bulged in anger. "You wanted to revise it for a clause that's already included in there?"

"Precisely, look..." Michael began pointing at the contract, when in reality, he was preparing a Heavenly Judgement type of skill.

He had covered the hostages in mana so none of them would get hurt.

Or at least, not killed—it was impossible to avoid not being hurt from a skill of such magnitude.

But that was why he was a healer in the first place.

Though...

I wonder if they'll be mad if I destroy this outpost? Probably not... Michael whistled sheepishly, when all of a sudden, he placed his hands over the contract and 'accidentally' ripped it.

"You spastic piece of shit, do you know how much time you wasted!" the demon finally lashed out, its claws heading for Michael's throat.

However, just as they were about to land, Michael tilted his body back, evading the claws, and with a kick to the demon's jaw, he sent it flying.

To its surprise, the demon twisted its body in midair and reconnected its broken jaw, while flashing Michael a suspicious glare.

"You're a bit stronger than you look," the demon remarked.

As it did, Michael finally spotted the massive horde of demons in front of him.

Of course, there were a bunch in the sky too, and each of their strengths was similar to the demon before him.

Therefore, with a cheeky smile, Michael pointed his finger in a gun-like manner, confusing the demon.

But before it could point out Michael's quirky posture, a single sound resounded.

"Bang."

With that single word escaping Michael's mouth, a volley of swords shot out from the ground and formed a massive arrowhead, which kept expanding until eventually, it was ready to shoot out—which it did.

It all happened in a single moment, not giving the demon any time to react, as it was caught in the attack.

The arrow dragged across the streets, throwing debris and all sorts of corpses to the sides while actively crushing the demons in its path.

But of course, there were the troublemakers in the skies as well, who Michael decided to greet in the same manner.

"Bang."

Again, he shot out with his finger, and another arrow emerged.

This one, however, was much larger.

It traveled much faster and made contact with the demons in the distance.

Finally, he let out a relieved sigh, as the numbers greatly dwindled.

Now, he could finally step up his game and deal with their scattered ranks.